Estates finishes 1st phase of flood mitigation project

San Diego Country Estates marked the completion of Phase 1 of its flood mitigation project with a visit by county Supervisor Dianne Jacob.

The project was initiated last year after the July 18 and 19 downpours produced four inches of rain and left homes flooded on Rutherford Road as rainwater, mud, silt and rocks flowed down the hillside into yards and the street.

Paul Fisher, president of Projection Engineering in Ramona, was hired by the homeowners association to evaluate the area and come up with solutions. Among his findings were a rocky, uneven, dirt service road running parallel along the hillside behind homes on Rutherford and used by San Diego Gas & Electric, and lack of vegetation on the hillside, which burned in 2003.

Phase 1, a temporary storm water mitigation measure, called for such measures as grading the service road, accomplished by SDG&E, and adding rip-rap — recycled broken pieces of concrete — and K-rail barrier spillways to catch sediment and force the water to flow into certain areas.

“Our purpose was to slow it (water) down and clear it of silt,” said Mario Trejo, general manager of the Estates association, during the April 20 tour with Jacob.

Trejo, Fisher and association president Jim Piva took Jacob to an area off the Del Amo Road cul de sac, showing her the largest “crossing” with rip-rap and K-rails. It is one of 10 crossings that was created, they said.

Fisher said the rip-rap, installed since February, has been catching the silt and the drainage ditches have been running clean.

“We’ve gotten some good feedback from homeowners,” he said.

According to Trejo, the association budgeted $150,000 for the project and came in at $147,500. Piva said the work was accomplished by local sources so the money spent benefited the community.

Jacob called the project a success story and said the most significant result was that county departments, the homeowners association, SDG&E and other groups worked together and “nobody started pointing fingers, and everybody assumed responsibility” once responsibilities were determined.

Trejo commended the county for clearing streets and ditches and sending a biologist to give the green light for the project.

In spring 2017, he said, they will be going to the county for construction permits to start Phase 2, a long-term solution that will create desilting basins upstream of Phase 1 installations.